New York City Final Honors Program for Unclaimed Veterans

The City's Department of Veterans' Services makes sure a veteran who dies in the City unclaimed or abandoned gets a military funeral with honors. Anyone who knows of such a veteran should call 212-416-5250. The City pays no burial allowance of its own.

Also called: burial, funeral, unclaimed, military honors, Calverton National Cemetery, General Municipal Law 148, New York City, NYC, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, Staten Island.

For: Veteran or service member, survivor.

Where it applies

Written for the jurisdictions listed here.

The Final Honors Program is how the City carries out the State's duty to bury a veteran who dies without means, which General Municipal Law 148 lays on the counties and on New York City; see the New York entry on burial of veterans without means. Through it the Department of Veterans' Services makes sure that unclaimed or abandoned veterans who die in the City are given military funerals with honors. If you know of a deceased veteran at risk of being unclaimed, call 212-416-5250 or email [email protected]. Section 148 requires the City, where such a veteran has no next of kin, to ask a congressionally chartered veterans' organization to arrange the funeral, which the State repays up to $2,000, and forbids burial in a plot used only for the needy. For everyone else, the Department points families to VA's burial benefits: burial at Calverton National Cemetery on Long Island, which has space for casket and cremated burials, a government headstone or marker, a burial flag, a Presidential Memorial Certificate and VA's burial allowance; and to the State veterans cemetery in the Finger Lakes. The City itself pays no veterans' burial allowance.

Thresholds

Thresholds for New York City Final Honors Program for Unclaimed Veterans
Gate	Rule
A veteran who dies in the City unclaimed or abandoned	No rating is needed. Families arranging their own funeral use VA burial benefits.

Sources

Updated

Last updated 2026-10-02.

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Disclaimer

VetTOC is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense. Information is for reference only and is not an eligibility determination. Verify with VA, the relevant state or territory, or an accredited VSO.